CHAP. IV.] 



George Payne ^ Master. 



125 



had been five pounds, and twenty-five the rub. It was a 

 treat to hear him tell of how at one hotel at Hyeres he 

 once sat down with three Frenchmen after the table- 

 d'hote, and played for hours at ^'sou^' points, and a franc 

 the rub. But it was not by the turf, or " bits of paste- 

 board/^ or the " ivories ^' alone, that thousands melted 

 from his grasp. There was nothing from the " Three per 

 Cents " to Russian tallow in which he would not speculate. 

 The investment he made in the latter, during the early 

 days of the Crimean War, will not soon be forgotten by 

 those who witnessed the delivery of the article. A few 

 days subsequent to the completion of the purchase, while 

 still in bed at Long's Hotel, he was awoke by the porter 

 to be told ^^ that the people had brought the tallow, 

 and were waiting for orders.''^ Hurrying down stairs he 

 found to his dismay that Bond Street was so crowded 

 with carts laden with tallow to be delivered at his 

 address, that the street-traffic was seriously impeded. 

 No one was more amused at the absurdity of his posi- 

 tion than himself, and having extricated himself from it 

 as quickly as he could, he vowed that that should be 

 " his last speculation in that cursed stuff.^^ 



As Master of the Pytchley, George Payne was pre- 

 emiuently the right man in the right place. Devoted 

 to hunting, and popular with all, the announcement that 

 he was willing once more to be Master of the P.H. was 

 received with general satisfaction. Sulby Hall having by 

 this time passed into other hands, he made Pitsford Hall 

 his head-quarters, and became his own Huntsman, taking 

 Charles Payn and Ned Kingsbury ("Dirty Dick") 

 I'or his first and second Whips. Ned, formerly 

 rough-rider to Tilbury of Pinner, while acting strictly 



